The joys, woes of attending weddings

He wanted to attend all of them but had to shortlist as there is a social commitment to “give some money” to the wedding host.

“I have so far attended 83 marriages. The participation amount depends upon your closeness with the family.

Though it is not mandatory, to me it varies between RO 10 and RO 50. Now you can understand my difficulty,” he laughs.

“I still support this system because it happens only during the wedding season and a clever man like me saves some money every month for marriages I am supposed to attend.”

Mohammed supports the tradition of giving some money during social functions due to its inherent social support ingrained in the system.

“It is like sharing someone’s burden even though it is not mandatory. Some people have started giving gift items, I stick to giving money.”

Similar is the case with Bakhit, who took up a job a couple of years ago. “Marriages are performed mainly on weekends for everybody’s convenience. Out of a total of 22 invitations, I attended five marriages last week, two each in Saada and Taqah respectively and one in Mirbat. I paid RO 10 for each of them.”

Bakhit recalled that last year he could give RO 50, 20, or 10 but because of the new house he built and moved into this year, his budget is tight.

He has decided to save some money every month for the marriages so they do not come as a burden.

He too supports the system of giving some money at weddings.